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Older locomotive name acronyms

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D1537

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I only know the classic mythologies ;)
I think Odin and Thor are the only Norse ones in the original WR named 47 series. Most were Greek mythology, Samson of course comes from the Bible but goodness knows where they got "Mammoth" from.
 

D1511

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My favourite 16 wheeler EE. D210. 8-)
Spot on sir!
I didn't have a favourite.....I loved them all equally :smile:

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I think Odin and Thor are the only Norse ones in the original WR named 47 series. Most were Greek mythology, Samson of course comes from the Bible but goodness knows where they got "Mammoth" from.
In the mythology of the Evenk people, mammoths were responsible for the creation of the world, digging up the land from the ocean floor with their tusks.

Not sure if that's the mythological connection or not.....

Whatever the origin of the names, those short one word nameplates in that distinctive font looked great on those WR 47s
 
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Sun Chariot

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those short one word nameplates in that distinctive font looked great on those WR 47s
A stylish hark back to the nameplates style of Westerns (the Warships I think had slightly different font).
The "mythology" plates looked superb on large logo livery - I saw  COLOSSUS sat freshly outside Crewe Works paint shop May 1986. 8-)
 
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Rescars

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I think Odin and Thor are the only Norse ones in the original WR named 47 series. Most were Greek mythology, Samson of course comes from the Bible but goodness knows where they got "Mammoth" from.
Weren't some of these names recycled from the GWR broad gauge era? Swindon came up with a rich collection of names drawn from myth and legend in the days of Daniel Gooch.
 

D1537

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Weren't some of these names recycled from the GWR broad gauge era? Swindon came up with a rich collection of names drawn from myth and legend in the days of Daniel Gooch.
Ah, very good point. So, looking at it...
  • Mammoth was indeed a GWR broad gauge loco (as was North Star, which I'd forgotten). Other names that were taken from these locos were Atlas, Orion, Cyclops, Sam(p)son, Amazon and Vulcan.
  • Titan and Python were SDR broad gauge locos and so were amalgamated into the GWR later on. There were also SDR locos named Atlas, Sam(p)son and Vulcan separate to the GWR ones!
The others (Odin, Colossus and Thor) appear not to have broad gauge steam antecedents, unless I'm missing something. (There was a Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway Colossus, scrapped in 1927, but I doubt if that's relevant).
 

Strathclyder

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I know this isn't strictly what this thread is about (is it one worth starting?), but names carried by the Deltics, the 50s, the 77s/EM2s, 86s/87s, Warships & the Westerns are among the best named locos of the post-steam BR era. Most were short, to the point and/or otherwise distinct and were all the better for it. Some of the names that the ScotRail 47/7 shove-duffs and refurbished 37s recieved in the 80s are also worth a mention

Wolf of Badenoch, Crepello, Western Firebrand, Defiance, to name a few.

That'll have younger folk here scratching their heads!
Not so much with me (29), I knew exactly which Peak was being referred to when I saw this lol


I wonder if KOYLI means anything to some of our younger readers, too. :)
Likely because I'm a avid Deltic follower, that is one acronym whose loco the name belongs to I can ID more or less instantly. Same with RSG.
 

The exile

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Ah, very good point. So, looking at it...
  • Mammoth was indeed a GWR broad gauge loco (as was North Star, which I'd forgotten). Other names that were taken from these locos were Atlas, Orion, Cyclops, Sam(p)son, Amazon and Vulcan.
  • Titan and Python were SDR broad gauge locos and so were amalgamated into the GWR later on. There were also SDR locos named Atlas, Sam(p)son and Vulcan separate to the GWR ones!
The others (Odin, Colossus and Thor) appear not to have broad gauge steam antecedents, unless I'm missing something. (There was a Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway Colossus, scrapped in 1927, but I doubt if that's relevant).
At least they didn’t revive Lagoon. For the uninitiated, the foundry workers at Swindon got a bit confused when it came to casting the nameplate for Laocoon. (Trojan priest who didn’t fall for the idea that a large wooden horse was just a gift - so was punished by the Greek gods.) No idea where to find the diacritic that should be over the 3rd o on my phone….
 

Ashley Hill

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I know this isn't strictly what this thread is about (is it one worth starting?), but names carried by the Deltics, the 50s, the 77s/EM2s, 86s/87s, Warships & the Westerns are among the best named locos of the post-steam BR era. Most were short, to the point and/or otherwise distinct and were all the better for it. Some of the names that the ScotRail 47/7 shove-duffs and refurbished 37s recieved in the 80s are also worth a mention
Classic names will always remain classic. I can’t imagine any positive reminiscence for Clothes Show Live or BBC Look North for example. Corporate naming somehow devalued the naming of locos, it also encouraged the constant renaming of locos if contracts were lost or locos reallocated.
 

The exile

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I know this isn't strictly what this thread is about (is it one worth starting?), but names carried by the Deltics, the 50s, the 77s/EM2s, 86s/87s, Warships & the Westerns are among the best named locos of the post-steam BR era. Most were short, to the point and/or otherwise distinct and were all the better for it. Some of the names that the ScotRail 47/7 shove-duffs and refurbished 37s recieved in the 80s are also worth a mention

Wolf of Badenoch, Crepello, Western Firebrand, Defiance, to name a few.
I’d add to that list the “Shell” 47s and the 60s - not going for the “cheap publicity” (seemed cheap even if it wasn’t) of the TV programmes etc. Also good where there was an overarching theme/themes.
 

Sun Chariot

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Likely because I'm a avid Deltic follower, that is one acronym whose loco the name belongs to I can ID more or less instantly. Same with RSG.
55002 received its 1960s 2-tone green in 1980 and it became a celebrity in the Deltics final year. I invariably saw the railway press of that time, refer to it in print as KOYLI.
The other still-active Deltics (for St Paddy and Nimbus had already gone) were, if I recall, written in their full, regardless of whether racehorse or regimental.


Back to the Western Region and I'm keeping with the military theme:
RNR(date-date)

Clue: water based, not land based
 
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Sun Chariot

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It failed on me 4 times! Rescued by rubbish every time except one.......when 20205 and 20227 were dispatched from Thornton Junction 8-)
Oh for "proper" rescue haulage again. The best rescue I had, was early 1984 when 31432 expired near Dent and, after two hours of being pelted by a Pennine pebbledash, a 25/1 out of Skipton burbled up and then thrashed all the way to Leeds.


Royal Naval Reserve 1859-1959.
Bullseye
 
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D1537

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I often felt it was a shame that the WR didn't continue with it's "British" set of names for it's 47/4s. The first batch was Great Britain, Albion, Fair Rosamund, Thames and Severn, and then some years later we got Mayflower and Tamar, but they could have done a lot more with that. Similarly Gateshead's generators with their excellent North Eastern names (North Eastern, Gateshead, The Geordie, Hadrian, Northumbria and Aycliffe) which then got interspersed with Rail Riders, Finsbury Park and bizarrely David Lloyd George, who could hardly have had a loco based further from the place* he was famous for!

*Yes I know he was born in Manchester, but to Welsh parents, moved to Wales when he was a baby and grew up speaking Welsh.
 

D1511

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Oh for "proper" rescue haulage again. The best rescue I had, was early 1984 when 31432 expired near Dent and, after two hours of being pelted by a Pennine pebbledash, a 25/1 out of Skipton burbled up
There was a time in 1983/4 when we would actively seek out 27/0s renumbered from /1s and /2s on the Dundee services because they would fail so often after being hammered to death on the push-pulls as their previous numbers. I managed a few slow speed fitted 20s that way!
Classic names will always remain classic. I can’t imagine any positive reminiscence for Clothes Show Live or BBC Look North for example. Corporate naming somehow devalued the naming of locos, it also encouraged the constant renaming of locos if contracts were lost or locos reallocated.
Couldn't agree more. The name on a modern locomotive has lost its value and is likely to be more transient and with a commercial angle. Fair play to DRS, however who have named most (but not all) of their 68 & 88 fleets sensibly, and have avoided telling us how many days their TMD has gone without a reportable accident, or some other drivel. (I noticed that name has disappeared, so perhaps there was an accident.....but as it was on a 66 I think, I'd never notice)
 

D1511

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Rue the day if we see locos named after politicians:
"For our ascent of Lickey, Angela Rayner is on the pull up front and Nigel Farage will shove us up rear".
In my 6 figures of miles of train travel, I have never once pulled the communication cord.....but this might tempt me! ;)
 

westernpunk

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slighty at a tangent in my western bashing days, a lot of the class had nicknames,
1001 my mate always called her old mother pathfinder dont know why
1008 jump jet
1011 was thuderoar
1015 wonderhorse
1016 gladys
1021 laughing cavalier
1022 ducks ( bingo phrase 22 two littlle ducks
1023 fusebox
1024 *untsman
1027 prancer
1030 muskrat
1034 dragon
1036 emperoar
1043 dukedog
1045 biscit
1049 monarchy
1051 ambastador
1054 guv
1055 5&5 some will know why
1057 baked beanery (heinz)
1058 no balls
1066 perfect
1068 robin (reliant)
1070 the glove
1072 glory glory hallelujah
1073 bo*8ollocks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallelujah



im sure there were others likewise im sure other regions had them for certain engines
 

Strathclyder

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Classic names will always remain classic. I can’t imagine any positive reminiscence for Clothes Show Live or BBC Look North for example. Corporate naming somehow devalued the naming of locos, it also encouraged the constant renaming of locos if contracts were lost or locos reallocated.
Indeed, but even with all that, there have been some good ones in recent times. Black Douglas, Felix and Achilles were my picks from the TPE 68s as one example.

I’d add to that list the “Shell” 47s and the 60s - not going for the “cheap publicity” (seemed cheap even if it wasn’t) of the TV programmes etc. Also good where there was an overarching theme/themes.
Oh yes of course. Can't forget those named after mountains and significant figures in the scientific/industrial fields.
 

Sun Chariot

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Rail Express Systems'  Res theme was a good idea but lacking "punch" across the range of names.

It started well:
Resplendent
Responsive
Resolute

then it almost deteriorated to:
Respraying Required
Restaurant Surcharge
Rescue Standby Loco
 
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D1537

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A stylish hark back to the nameplates style of Westerns (the Warships I think had slightly different font).
The "mythology" plates looked superb on large logo livery - I saw  COLOSSUS sat freshly outside Crewe Works paint shop May 1986. 8-)
47641. The nameplate was removed a week or so later, photos are quite rare. I had it on the Newcastle-Poole and didn't take one ... grr.

The nameplate went to 47564 and 47641 toddled off to Scotland where it was named "Fife Region".
 

eastwestdivide

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Meanwhile I remember someone coming back saying they’d glimpsed a newly-named 73, “Arthur something or other”. Turned out to be Airtour Suisse once we got the latest magazine update!
 

Helvellyn

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Now I'll move to the Eastern Region - and with a naming theme akin to the class 45 thread I'm guilty of derailing! ;)

 FEAR
Clue: This one was "one of three".
Though planned I don’t think she was joined by her sisters SEAR and TEAR.

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I mooted D50 / 45040 but it doesn't fit the O
D9006 / 55006

Another cryptic candidate: 5RIDG
5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards (D62/45143).

Potentially confusingly D63/45044 was Royal Inniskilling Fusilier (RIF).

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D71 / 45049 and D58 / 45043. :)
Indeed. The Staffordshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own) and The King's Own Royal Border Regiment respectively.
 

Sun Chariot

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Though planned I don’t think she was joined by her sisters SEAR and TEAR
The various online sources I perused, seem to have differing stances:
1) All three received cast nameplates, albeit only for several weeks.
2) All three ran with nameplates obscured - image in this RUK thread, now closed:
3) SEAR and TEAR ran with bolt holes only.
 

Taunton

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I have always thought a small plate of explanation would go well under some of the names, for example those after the Soham 1944 loco crew, describing their significance.
 

Sun Chariot

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I have always thought a small plate of explanation would go well under some of the names, for example those after the Soham 1944 loco crew, describing their significance.
That's a brilliant idea. It took me until my English Literature O Level, to discover who the heck Fair Rosamund was.... :D

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47641. The nameplate was removed a week or so later, photos are quite rare. I had it on the Newcastle-Poole and didn't take one ... grr.

The nameplate went to 47564 and 47641 toddled off to Scotland where it was named "Fife Region".
I never realised 641 carried the name for such a short time. I took it purely because it was clean; as my interest was much more on the rows of 40s and 84008 on Crewe Works' "death row".
 
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